Tattoos of the ARC Facility
by Grac3
Summary: A collection of drabbles exploring the body art of nine former- and current-ARC employees.
1. Connor

**Warning: **Reference to drinking.

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Connor**

Connor hadn't wanted his tattoo. It had been the result of the unique combination of alcohol, bad friends, and a tattoo artist at a uni party. Connor, Tom and Declan had been invited to the party – and there had booze.

Lots and lots of booze.

Connor lost track around the seventh pint, though in the morning he found evidence of him having drunk vodka shots, tequila shots, and an odd green cocktail that neither looked nor smelled of anything he had ever encountered before.

Yet the morning had come with another surprise: a tattoo of Jessica Rabbit.

On his arse.


	2. Jess

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Jess**

Jess' had been for her eighteenth birthday.

This act of rebellion had been inspired her parents' pushiness:

"Well _why_ don't you want it in pink?"

"What's all this about computers?"

"Jess, that's not very feminine, is it, dear?"

Jess would have to wait a year to get her job at the ARC – proof that her 'unladylike' ambitions could be realised. So, at the age of eighteen, she got a tattoo.

Jess' tattoo was on her foot: a keyboard with the 'J', the 'E' and the 'S' in bold, forever reflecting her passion.

Needless to say, her parents hadn't been impressed.


	3. Nick

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Nick**

No one had ever understood why Nick wanted to be an anthropologist. When he first told people, they hadn't even believed him.

"A _what_?" they'd exclaimed. "No, you'll go into accounting."

They'd always saw his dream as too farfetched and improper. Nick had sought to retaliate; to show them that he was being serious.

He'd had to get his tattoo on his back; it was too big to fit anywhere else. He selected his favourite prehistoric creature – a Baryonyx – and inked it onto his skin.

It was one of the reasons Helen claimed she had fallen in love with him.


	4. Emily

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Emily**

It had been one of the first things she had done when she got back to the future – permanently, this time. The first time she had had the opportunity to experience the twenty-first century, she had been infinitely intrigued by them. Tattoos had been around in 1867, of course, but mostly they had adorned the bodies of sailors.

By the time she got back she was terrified of losing her opportunity again, so went to get one the next day. An open book on her shoulder – somewhere it wouldn't hurt too much – represented her new life in the twenty-first century.


	5. Patrick

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Patrick**

Patrick often abandoned the Time Tribe to go through the anomalies on his own. Mostly it was to kidnap or murder people. But when Charlotte got ill, he had a crisis in conscience.

Patrick had fallen in love with Charlotte, and did not react well to her illness. First, he sought feverishly for a cure, but never found an anomaly that went to the right time. Then, he had begun killing for the sake of it. Finally, he decided to get a 'D' tattooed on his chest, to remind him of life before Charlotte: to remind him of his brother.


	6. Lester

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Lester**

Only his wife would ever see his tattoo. Well, he had an inkling that his children had seen it, but no one else.

James Lester got his tattoo before he had begun his career in the civil service. Yet he picked words that matched his personality, and would later go on to define his career. Fearing that his job prospects would be limited otherwise, he 'hid' the artwork between his shoulder blades. It was simple; the words of Psalm 28:4 in calligraphy script.

It was the biggest secret that he had, and he was going to keep it that way.

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**A.N.:** The words of Psalm 28:4 are: "Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring back on them what they deserve." (NIV). They made me think of Lester...


	7. Stephen

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Stephen**

Stephen spent most of his twenties harbouring the belief that he was infallible. He had proved himself to be an excellent tracker, and a winning streak had led him to believe that he could do no wrong.

His cockiness backfired when he was twenty-seven, tracking a tiger through an Indian forest. He had read the trees wrong and spent fifty miles going south when he thought he was going north.

He realised then that he had been wrong to think so highly of himself, and got a compass tattooed on his left forearm to remind himself that was, indeed, fallible.


	8. Abby

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Abby**

No one at the ARC knew about the three months Abby had spent in juvie when she was seventeen. They had run background checks when the ARC had been formed, but Cutter – the Cutter from before the Permian anomaly – had made sure that the originals, as Connor called them, got in no matter what.

She wondered if he'd had an inkling.

Abby's tattoo had been inked on her ankle when she got out of juvie. She got Simon and Garfunkel lyrics: "I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains."

She felt it had a certain poetic appeal.


	9. Becker

**A.N.:** This is the last chapter of this fic (although I might write a Jenny/Claudia chapter) and I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed.

**Disclaimer: Don't own Primeval.**

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**Becker**

It was a testament to Becker's formidableness that no one laughed at his kitten tattoo.

The kitten tattoo had been acquired after he had joined the army, and every one of his comrades knew it was there. They did not, however, make fun of it. Becker had shown remarkable weaponry skills even only just having started at Sandhurst. As a result, no one made fun of the kitten tattoo. No one was that stupid.

Only one person had ever made fun of the kitten tattoo: Jess.

Jess had made fun of it once.

But Jess was Jess.

Jess was allowed.


End file.
